Dossier Veiligheid

Conny Rijken appointed Professor of Human Trafficking and Globalization

PRESS RELEASE 19 December 2015 - Tilburg University has appointed Conny Rijken to the chair of Human Trafficking and Globilization as of January 1st, 2016. At the International Victimology Institute Tilburg (INTERVICT), which is part of Tilburg Law School, Rijken will focus particularly on human rights violations taking place in the context of global migration.

Human mobility in a globalized world has
the potential to lead to economic growth and an improvement in living standards
throughout the world. However, not all migrants end up in a situation with
improved living conditions and a significant number end up marginalised, exploited
and discriminated against. Human trafficking is considered one of the largest
and most severe criminal offences worldwide and hits people working in forced,
bonded and exploitative labour including sexual exploitation.

At this stage, we do not have a full picture of the factors
that cause or diminish the risk of being excluded from the profits of migration
and the effects of judicial regimes trying to minimize exclusion. At the same
time we lack the knowledge how to utilize existing institutions and structures
at national, regional and international levels to optimize migration governance
at the global level. The research of Conny Rijken will contribute to the
identification, understanding and filling of these knowledge gaps. The core
research area will be human trafficking in the context of the downside of
global migration contemplated through the lens of human rights and more broadly
victimology with a particular focus on the European context.

Rijken is also establishing a Human Trafficking Law Clinic for
students based on and in cooperation with the Human Trafficking Law Clinic at
Michigan University. The Law Clinic will start in Spring 2016.

Dr. Conny Rijken (b. 1969) studied international and
European human rights law at Utrecht University and Tilburg University and wrote her PhD thesis on human trafficking under supervision of Prof. Hirsch Ballin and Prof. Fijnaut. She has extended her
field of research to other areas including global migration, European criminal
law and inclusion and exclusion through migration. Central in her research is
the focus on human rights and engagement with the position of the individual. She
conducts her research in interdisciplinary and international teams, often led
by her, enabling the combination of and building on insights from different
perspectives. Her research is characterized by creatively rethinking entrenched
principles that are often taken for granted and generating new insights and
ideas. Encouraging and inspiring students and other researchers are aspects she
finds important in her work and which she will further effectuate as professor
of human trafficking and globalization.